Premiers pushed Anthony Albanese on anti-Semitism strategy detail, after he failed to raise Segal report
State leaders have forced Anthony Albanese to refocus on anti-Semitism after he prioritised gun reform during an emergency National Cabinet meeting following the Bondi terror attack.
State leaders were forced to push Anthony Albanese on if he had any new ideas on how to tackle anti-Semitism, after they had to stop him talking about gun reform and focus in more detail on anti-Jewish hate during an emergency meeting of national leaders.
The Australian revealed on Tuesday that the Prime Minister did not raise anti-Semitism envoy Jillian Segal’s six-month old plan on tackling bigotry towards Jewish Australians until two state leaders asked him about the next tangible steps on the anti-Semitism crisis.
Mr Albanese did start the meeting calling for the eradication of anti-Semitism before he went on to talk about gun control.
A draft outcomes document seen by this masthead and given to premiers before the meeting had only one paragraph about eradicating anti-Semitism, and the final release was changed to add a second that outlines continuing work on already announced policies.
The draft also called the Bondi killings an “evil terror attack” and it was updated to label it an “evil anti-Semitic terror attack”.
When asked if he was convinced from the meeting that Mr Albanese was strong enough on anti-Semitism, Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said: “I do hope so … he’s a person of good character. Clearly not enough has been done … we cannot mince words.
“If we rely on gun reform as the only thing we do in response to this, then the terrorists have a win,” Mr Crisafulli said on the Gold Coast.
“We have a long way to go and we need the Prime Minister to be successful.
“The Jewish community would not be as vocal as it has been if enough had been done … this is the fork in the road.”
Mr Crisafulli did not deny he was one of the state leaders to push Mr Albanese during the meeting.
As Jewish leaders fear the Prime Minister could use gun law reform to pivot from eradicating anti-Semitism in the wake of the nation’s worst ever terror attack, Mr Albanese on Tuesday morning tried to fight back claims his government has failed to contain the wave of bigotry against Jews.
The Prime Minister claimed The Australian’s report was not accurate but failed to say if he directly raised Ms Segal’s report before he was prompted.
Mr Albanese went on to read from the revised national cabinet press release which listed measures that came out before Ms Segal’s plan in July.
“That report is not accurate. The meeting yesterday had front and centre a commitment … (reading from the release) The Prime Minister today convened a meeting of national cabinet following the evil anti-Semitic terrorist attack directed at members of the Jewish community celebrating Hanukkah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach,” Mr Albanese said in Sydney.
“What we did was we referenced the ongoing work including the national hate crime and incidents database … We have taken the report from the anti-Semitism envoy and what we are doing is busy implementing it.”
But with the Jewish community angry with the lack of action up until the Sunday massacre at Bondi Beach, Sussan Ley will announce she will set up a Coalition task force aimed at drawing up a plan to fully implement the Segal Review’s recommendations.
“The Prime Minister has said he will do whatever it takes. Leadership now means doing the hard work, not delaying it … that must start with implementing the government’s own Anti-Semitism Envoy’s report in full, not shelving it or watering it down,” she said. “The Coalition stands ready to support any serious and effective action that strengthens counter-terrorism, disrupts extremists and protects lives.”
The seven-strong Coalition taskforce of Ms Ley, Michaela Cash, Jonno Duniam, James Paterson, Julian Leeser, Andrew Wallace and Bridget McKenzie will meet with Ms Segal on Wednesday.
Sources close to the Monday national cabinet meeting said Mr Albanese made an initial acknowledgment of the need to defeat anti-Semitism at the beginning of the gathering, and then focused almost solely on changing gun laws.
It is understood that one state leader asked the Prime Minister if he was doing anything on anti-Semitism not just gun control.
Sources said Mr Albanese responded that they were doing ongoing work on anti-Semitism and listed previously announced policies, but did not outline any fresh progress on the Segal report or any new policy ideas.
Sources, who spoke after being contacted by The Australian about the lack of new measures to tackle anti-Semitism announced after the meeting, said they were shocked about the draft statement and the “focus on gun control”.
“This is the statement that was offered to outline what the Prime Minister wanted national cabinet to discuss and then put out as a media release,’’ one source said.
“It was mostly about gun control and what was concerning was that there was no tangible plan, no next steps about what to do about anti-Semitism in Australia.
“It was state and territory leaders who spoke up, who pushed for a greater acknowledgment that more needed to be done around anti-Semitism.”
It is understood the meeting then discussed existing efforts to crack down on anti-Semitism.
“There was some discussion, and a paragraph about what was already being done was put into the media statement,’’ the source said.
“But again, nothing tangible about what are the next steps in a national approach.’’
He did not raise any other policies to target anti-Jewish hate and did not bring up any progress on the plan presented six months ago by his hand-picked anti-Semitism envoy, Jillian Segal, to combat hatred towards Jews.
Just before the meeting, the Prime Minister’s office sent out a draft media statement to state and territory leaders that was proposed to be released after the national cabinet meeting.
The statement, which has been obtained by The Australian, was viewed as setting out the agenda of the meeting.
The media statement that was released after national cabinet was identical to the draft statement given to state and territory leaders before the meeting with the exception of a single paragraph.
The paragraph reads: “National cabinet noted the ongoing work across jurisdictions to tackle anti-Semitism such as establishing the National Hate Crimes and Incidents Database, enhancing security of Jewish community and cultural sites, and co-ordinated work across intelligence and police agencies.’’
Mr Albanese led his defence of his government’s strategy to combat anti-Semitism on Monday morning by saying it did not start in 2022 – the year he brought Labor back to power.
“Well, we have been rolling them out, but quite clearly it is the case that … we adopted the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. I’ve made it clear that that’s my government’s position,” Mr Albanese told ABC radio.
“There wasn’t an anti-Semitism envoy before our government established one, and anti-Semitism didn’t begin in 2022.
“And the fact that, as you’ve just said to me, these people were investigated, the younger man, the son was investigated in 2019, is one of the indications of that.”
National cabinet – since Scott Morrison set it up in 2020 – has often been used by prime ministers to rubber stamp policy actions and it is common for pre-written press releases to be handed to premiers before the meeting.
The Prime Minister’s office was approached by The Australian about the meeting.
